St. Stanislaus Welcomes Nancy Artigues as New Principal

Noteworthy Women - August 2024

St. Stanislaus College began a new school year last week with a woman at the helm for the first time in the school's 170-year history.

​- by Maurice Singleton

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St. Stanislaus College began the new school year last week with Nancy Artigues as the new principal, her seventh year in a leadership role at the all-boys college preparatory school. She was promoted from Academic Assistant Principal to Principal in the spring — the first female principal in the school’s 170-year history.
 
Artigues brings a wealth of classroom and administrative experience to her new position as well as a family history that reflects the mission of the school. Artigues said that four generations of her immediate family and four generations of her husband’s Ronnie’s family graduated from St. Stanislaus.
 

 
“As the granddaughter, daughter, mother, and wife of a graduate, this school has had a profound impact on my life.”
 
The new principal completed the Brothers of the Sacred Heart leadership program, which culminated in a three-week training program in Rome. The training is designed to fulfill the Brothers’ mission of developing educational leaders to prepare young men to reach their God-given potential
 
“We’re here to perpetuate the mission of the Brothers of the Sacred Heart,” Artigues explained. “I don’t know if it matters if you are male or female. Once you’re committed to being a partner in that mission, we’re all working toward the same goals.”
 
Artigues said that she understands why being the first female principal is a big deal to some: “It’s new,” she explained. “I guess I would say this: Within this building, it’s not an issue. In the community, it’s something to get used to. But I think it’s more important that I am a member of the community that is now the principal of St. Stanislaus. And that’s very exciting for many reasons. I don’t know that that’s happened in a long time, if ever.”
 
Artigues began her career in education as a teacher in the public schools of St. Charles Parish after graduating from Tulane University with a degree in psychology and education. She then graduated from the University of New Orleans with a master’s degree in special education.
 
From there, she worked three years as a special education coordinator for the Mississippi Department of Education before she and her husband returned to Hancock County. She taught at St. Clare and Holy Trinity Elementary Schools--previously Bay Catholic--while raising her children.

She also worked in the Bay-Waveland School District as the Special Educator at the Alternative School, a position she said was particularly rewarding for her. “I loved every minute of it. At that point I started working with middle school, junior high and high school students. I liked working with older students at that point and preparing them for life.
 

 
“I am a believer that you can have everything. Personally, I can’t have everything at the same time,” said Artigues. “Somehow God has, as always, presented all these things that I’ve really wanted to do at the right time in my life.
 
“They’re grown and gone now,” she says of raising her two children. “Now I have time to devote to this with the full support of my family. It’s not a nine-to-five job. We have the dorm, a great faculty and staff, and residency staff, and everybody does their job. It’s a blessing because it’s so well run. But you have to be available.”
 
Brother Barry Landry, SC, who is the outgoing president of St. Stanislaus, said Artigues is a consummate education professional.
 
“She understands that education is both academic preparation and personal formation, which leads to personal and intellectual competence,” said Landry. “She works with the teachers to improve the quality of instruction, which is among the best I’ve ever seen.
 
“She understands the work that is required to be an effective classroom teacher,” Landry added. “She supports, guides, and challenges classroom teachers to improve their work.”
 
We are lucky to have such dedicated educators, committed to growing, supporting, and guiding the students of Hancock County.

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